Vicious Vying
by Moonlit Owl
Summary: They were inseparable, Sirius and James, whatever sort of mishap that could happen they were always understanding for each other. When Sirius unwillingly admitted to James a secret, expecting for him to sympathize him, he was betrayed by James becoming enraged, and the two had dispersed, and their friendship was lost. This quickly formed into a bitter competition for the prize.


Vicious Vying

What was he to do? It wasn't like he could defend himself against those _people_; those _malicious, thoughtless_ beings they call classmates. There wasn't a moment to go by for those so-called Marauders to _not_ pick on Severus Snape. Sometimes, Severus was lucky enough to be approached by a few, but on his _unlucky_ days—which was always three days out of a week—he was approached by that entire year of Gryffindors! Not only that, but even his own housemates liked to tease him and ridicule him. He could never understand why. He _never_ did anything to _them_. He _can't_ do anything to them…

But where was the use in mellowing in all the drama that is Severus' school life? He certainly found a way to escape it all. It was a nice little corner in the deepest, darkest, most frightening areas of the dungeon, where even the slickest snake wouldn't dare to venture. Nope. Severus, for some reason, always considered himself a rat. An odd consideration, but he thinks it because he always thought himself small, apparently unattractive, ridiculed by others, comfortable in undesirable locations, and neglected in a dark corner if it can't find its way home.

Although he is very small for a seventeen year old boy, with lengthy black hair and a skinny physique, but in the face he was actually quite adorable. He always wore the plainest clothes partially because he didn't care about style, but also because he knew it would do him no "justice"—as he would have put it.

Although Severus would say otherwise, he does have a true friend. Lily Evans is her name. She really is the only reason Severus is still sane, though he feels his breaking point drawing nearer. He surprisingly never knows what she does when she's away from him, but he always knows that she keeps a watchful eye for him, and he anticipates that. He always feels the need to be protected, and Lily is the only one who offers it.

In a nutshell, Severus is very lonely. He spends hours a day on his own in either the dormitories or in his burrow in the depths of the dungeons. The only time he meets with Lily is when they run into each other, or she tells him to meet at a certain place at a certain hour in the day.

However, he is forced to suffer the company of his predators. History of Magic—though, truly interesting—is one of his least favoured subjects because he always gets bad grades on it mainly because his attention is always averted by the teasing of everyone in the room. However, today was appearing to be not so bad. A chunk of his hair hadn't been clumped into the fist of the person behind him yet, and he was about to believe that it wasn't ever going to happen. That is very good.

Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that someone had written a note and was passing it silently around the classroom. The note never reached Severus, which is what made him even more affected, because all he saw were eyes turning to him, sneering and chuckling. All he could do, was drop his head in defeat. Apparently, this will be another day of not knowing anything the professor is teaching!

He fell onto the sofa, laughing as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the entire world. Grabbing his stomach, he let out a sigh of amusement as he watched his friend make his way around the coffee table, passing James a fake smile which he knew all too well. "Oh, what is that?" he demanded, still cheerfully.

"That wasn't funny," was all Sirius said, looking above him in his manner. Clearly, he was not amused.

"Of _course_ it was! it was pure genius!" James insisted, grinning wildly, almost looking mindless for a moment, "The way he just _sat_ there," he took a break to chuckle, "Completely clueless!"

Now Sirius wasn't even amusing him by faking a smile, his expression was serious, and his tone even more so, "It _wasn't funny_."

"Oh, will you lighten up for once? Since when are _you_ a killjoy?" he demanded as he leaned over his knees, still unable to stop himself from smiling.

"You crossed the line, James! What you did wasn't even called for! Now you're going to start rumours about it all across the school grounds!"

With Sirius yelling, James became peeved, so he jumped to his feet and shouted back in the same tone, "All of a sudden, you have a problem?" When Sirius fell silent, though his expression unchanged, James continued, "What's gotten into you?"

"You know _damn well_ that I don't follow you when you go that way! Do you have any idea how annoying it is to watch you make a complete fool of yourself? And I always have to try and keep you from _getting_ too far!"

"You don't have to do any of that! I know when to stop," his voice was still peevish, but it wasn't loud anymore as he turned to pick up a dish of mints from the coffee table, and tossing a few in his mouth.

"No, you don't! If I didn't stop you from approaching him after class, who knows what you would've done?!"

"What do you want me to do, huh?" James demanded, lifting his arms, "What?!"

A pause, "…I want you to stop bullying Snape,"

James looked aghast for a moment, then he slightly jolted his head back with a chuckle, "Snape?" he asked, "…This is about _Snape_?"

"Yes! I've been growing very annoyed with how you treat him! It doesn't make any sense!"

Again, James didn't reply immediately, then he softly yet viciously spoke, "What makes _him_ so special?"

Sirius paused again, as though he were trying to avoid something, "…I didn't say that, I just said that I want you to stop bullying him—"

"Why?!" James demanded, wide-eyed.

"Because—"

"Because what? Do you like him?" James's tone was odd and his expression was almost unreadable.

Sirius again didn't answer immediately, knowing James yet also knowing that he's a close friend, which is what compelled him to admit, "…I…, yes, I do, I like Snape…a lot,"

James stood motionless as his hard expression fell, and his back ever so subtly straightened. In his eyes, it were as if a glass wall had broken, and Sirius could hear it shattering.

"Since you're my friend, I was hoping that you'd—"

"Shut it," James said very quietly, form unchanged from before. Sirius, of course, was brought aback, not expecting such a response. He could see the disbelief in James's eyes as he spoke, "…You _what_?" he hissed, still his tone was unchanged.

Sirius wasn't willing to repeat himself, but he managed to anyways, "…I…may…like…Snape…kind of a lot…"

James suddenly shook his head, and slightly looked away, as if still trying to understand if this was really happening.

"Look, James, this doesn't mean any—"

"No, _you_ look!" James suddenly hissed, pointing his finger at him, but otherwise, didn't exactly know what to say, and settled with this, screaming it, "_You_ are just something else, aren't you?!"

"What are you talking about?" Sirius yelled back, "Because I like a bloke? Is that it?"

"How could you?!" James's voice was louder that it became clumsy, and there was a rage in his eyes.

Sirius couldn't understand why James was so upset, "Why are you doing this? I'm not trying to offend you or anything!"

James's voice only got louder, "Why all of a sudden? Huh?! So you're just waltzing up and claiming him, is that it?!"

"_Claim_ him?" Sirius demanded, quite perplexed.

"I thought I _knew_ you, and then you go up and say _that_?!"

"Well, a news flash for you, James! I don't have to twist and bend my every thought and desire to _your_ liking just because you think you're so high and mighty!" Sirius could see James's face becoming redder with his fury, that simply made _Sirius_ angrier as well, "I was always there when _you_ had something to say, and I trust you this once and _this_ is what you do!"

James suddenly grabbed his head as an attempt to calm himself down, though it hardly worked, "Well the same goes for you, then! I don't have to act to _your_ standards!"

"Why are you being this way?" Sirius demanded, "I don't understand why you would do this, …because I like Severus Sn—"

Suddenly, James had grabbed the tray of mints and threw it at Sirius who dodged. "Will you just _shut up_!" he shouted, swearing as well as he grabbed many other things to fling at the other Gryffindor, anything he could get his hands on. "I _trusted_ you!" he hollered at the top of his lungs.

"James!" Sirius shouted, in an attempt to get him to stop.

"And _this_ is how you repay me?!" James wasn't making any sense to Sirius, and quite frankly, not even to himself as he kept shouting and swearing, and flinging random objects at his friend, trying to ease whatever is hurting as he was feeling many things. The phrase, "I trusted you" was the most repeated, along with many insults, until Sirius had enough.

"You blooming lunatic!" he shouted, "If you don't like it, you can just go sod off!" Sirius started out the Common Room, but James kept throwing things at him until he was out of sight. Then he grabbed his head again, at another attempt to calm himself that didn't work. Clasping his hands together so tightly that they hurt, he paced back and forth furiously, not only trying to soothe himself but also trying to figure out why he felt so angry and betrayed. That swine Sirius, he thought, he left just a moment too soon, he would've launched a chair his way! His eyes were scattershot, as they couldn't focus on anything, and he now had begun to sweat. He might've made about ten rounds before he started to feel his muscles being worked, and still the steam had not aired out completely. With his hands together, pacing back and forth, he pressed them against his mouth as though sustaining himself from screaming. He knew what he wanted to do: he wanted to find Sirius and beat him to a pulp! But he could hardly think to walk straight then, let alone go seek someone out. He didn't know what to do.

It was not long ago at all when Severus got a note from the red-headed girl that was exactly his height—if not, than taller!—to meet her on the lawn. He always followed immediately after reading, and so was at the set location before she was.

Approaching the Slytherin, she bent over to where he could see her, "_Hello_," she said.

Looking up, Severus replied, "Oh, hey," then his eyes dropped back to what he was doing—which was picking at the grass.

Sitting beside him, Lily decided to ask, "So, what's been happening?"

Severus didn't answer immediately, "…Well," he started.

When Severus was taking a little too long to speak, she turned to him, curiously, "'Well,' what?"

Delaying again, he eventually looked at her, "For some reason, all of the other students in History started laughing at me, and I couldn't figure out why,"

"Laughing? What did you do?" she demanded.

"Nothing," he answered, "I was just sitting there, trying to listen to the lesson. But then I would see them whispering to each other, looking at me and chuckling as if I had some sort of sign plastered on my head."

"It was probably nothing, Severus," she assured, or at least attempted to. He merely passed her a sluggish shrug as he continued to fiddle with the strands of grass. They really only had about twenty more minutes to talk until the next class would begin, then the two of them stood and began headed for the Castle.

There wasn't much to say at all about the next class, except that what happened in History was obviously still in everybody's minds. Severus sat incomprehensively in this one, too.

By the end of it, Severus made his way into the hall, taking a quick gander behind, he could see three larger _men_ approaching him—the Marauders, or at least half of them. Severus straightened up, but they had reached him. "Hello, muffin cake!" said the short, stubby one; snorting unattractively. Although Severus didn't know which one he was, it was Peter Pettigrew.

"You're in a mighty hurry, aren't you?" James mocked, "Where that _lover_ of yours again?" glancing behind him at his faithful friend Peter and then up at the taller one (Remus Lupin)—who Severus couldn't help but notice that he passed a very threatening look to James—then he said, "What was his name again, boys?"

Whatever crowd was around started laughing. Of course, Severus didn't know what they were saying. Who would he talk to other than Lily? Nobody, that's who! So he said to James, "What are you talking about?"

James and Peter laughed—though Remus didn't so much as smirk—then the leader retorted, "They always deny it, don't they?" Suddenly, James's eyes shifted slightly to the side. Sirius was leaning against the wall, watching them in disdain. A quick look of utter hatred, then it was replaced with the most venomous smile anyone could ever give, as he looked back to the smaller Slytherin. "Sweet, Darling Snape," James suddenly said, rather loudly, Severus noticed. "You look so adorable when your skittish!"

"Wha—" Severus grunted, scrunching up and taking a step back.

Peter, thinking that James was teasing him and referring to the newly released rumours, started laughing. "You said it, Prongs!"

When James glanced back at Sirius, he saw that his brows were furrowed, but it wasn't severe enough, so he decided to take a bit of an extra step. He grabbed Severus by the arm, from which Severus pulled away, looking horrified. "Stop it!" he shouted, though he knew that it never worked.

James smirked when he saw Sirius scowl at him, with narrow eyes, turning his back and leaving the hall. Then he winked at Severus, and said to his gang, "Let's go," then they began walking in the opposite direction of which Sirius had walked, and all Severus could do was watch.

It was truly exhausting to sit in aggravation, but Sirius had no control over it. He tried to concentrate on the book before him, but he wasn't at all perceiving the words. His concentration was especially ruined when someone sat across the short table from him. Jumping, Sirius hastily looked at the intruder just to find Remus.

"You scared me," he flatly moaned.

"You're scaring me," Remus replied, mimicking Sirius' tone. He didn't _sound_ very worried.

"How?" he demanded, peevishly.

"James _loves_ you, and now he avoids talking about you, hanging out with you, let alone standing in the same room with you. What's going on?"

"Loves, huh? That's a riot," Sirius retorted, flipping the page he didn't at all read.

Remus narrowed his eyes at them, then folding his arms as he leaned over the table, he at last spoke, seriously, "Pup, we're best mates, you can tell me anything." He paused to stare at Sirius who stared back, then he continued, "What happened?"

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Sirius finally gave in, "He went over the top, that's all!" then he buried his face back into the book.

"_Ahh_," Remus knowingly sighed, nodding. "You know he can be…eccentric, so why are you sitting here sulking?"

"Because he didn't understand and he didn't _want_ to! You know how he gets sometimes! You can't say a bloody fucking word to him when he's like that!"

"James never stays like that for more than an hour. You would've had to have _really_ pushed his buttons to get him like that for an entire day. I don't even know _when_ this started, it was just suddenly you disappeared,"

"Just, do me this one favour, will you?" Sirius pleaded.

"What is it?" Remus asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Just keep James away from me for a while, okay?"

A pause, then Remus shrugged, saying, "Ok," He stood tall, stretching his legs and his back, then he began to speak again, "There's no more classes for the day, want to go be a pair of wolves and freak the shit out of some third years?"

Sirius smiled, but shook his head, "No," he said, "And I'm not a wolf, I'm just a black dog. And technically, _you're_ not a wolf either, Remus!"

"I can be a wolf when I _want_ to be," he smirked charmingly with his remark, "Any colour one at that! Not many people have that privilege!"

"Not many people have your condition!"

"You don't know that," there was a pause of silence, then Remus continued, "Suit yourself," and he turned and started to head out.

"Ah, Remus!" Sirius suddenly shouted, "It's supposed to be a full moon tonight, be in before curfew!"

"Fine," he started walking again and didn't stop.

"And keep away from windows!"

"Will do."

"Don't be roaming around the castle for very long, okay?!" This time, he only acquired a wave as a reply, then Sirius slumped back in his seat. He always worried about Remus, as his "condition" is quite serious. Most of the month, he is perfectly fine, but always when he starts to come towards that time, his temper shortens and he becomes almost unpredictable. That's why Sirius didn't want him to stay near him alone. With at least two others near him, there's less of a chance of a massacre occurring. Although Remus never would lose his temper to Sirius himself, he never wanted to take the risk.

When Remus had caught up to the other two, they were sitting in the hall, Peter on the floor and James on the window seat. Leaning against the wall beside James, Remus said, "What'd I miss?"

"Just a group of wanna-be tough Hufflepuffs making poufs of themselves." James answered, then he and Peter began laughing, as though it had been very entertaining.

Remus, however, had a flat voice as he replied, "So I didn't miss much."

"No," James admitted.

Peter cocked his head back, looking inquiringly at Remus, then asked, "Where _were_ you?"

Easily, "I went to go find Sirius since it's been six hours since he was last with us all. Just to see what he was doing." Once he concluded, Remus glanced at James and noticed that his expression was drastically hardened. He narrowed his eyes studiously at him, yet appearing unable to decipher the reason of his anger even still.

"Well, how is he?" Peter asked.

"He's fine," Remus assured, "There just seems to be a disagreement or something,"

"Where is he?"

"He's in the Tower—"

"Who bloody _cares_?!" James suddenly interrupted, thunderously. It was just then when he noticed the certain passer-by, and shouting "Hey!" he stylishly hopped off the window seat, and approached him threateningly. "You will have to pay if you want to pass through _our_ turf!"

The smaller boy—who is Severus, by the way—backed away equal steps to James's, retorting, "You've claimed a _hall_?"

"Don't ask questions! Just pay up!"

"_James_!" Remus hissed, approaching him. He stepped in front of him then violently (and easily) tossed him away. Severus could hear the stubby one by the window disappointedly groan, "Moony!" as though Remus had just ruined the show. Severus merely sneered at them and turned the opposite way. It wasn't every day that a situation was averted by one of the Marauders.


End file.
